Marvel Graphic Novel Collection Issue 36 Review

The 36th book to be released in the collection is Wolverine: Origin, written by Paul Jenkins, Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas, with artwork provided by Andy Kubert. Origin was a six part limited series that was released by Marvel in 2001 (which is crazy to think this book is now that old).

For decades, Wolverine’s origins had been a mystery. After the success of the first X-Men film, it was decided if the character’s origin wasn’t told in the comic, it would be told on the film. There were plenty of people working for Marvel at the time that felt that telling Wolverine’s origin would ruin the mystery that surrounded the character. Fortunately there were those that felt that there was only so much milage left in stories surrounding Logan’s mysterious past, fractured memories, and the idea that the Weapon X programme had implanted him with fake memories.

Origin starts by describing the life of James Howlett (Wolverine) as a sickly, scared little boy (around 10/12). James lives on an estate in Alberta, Canada with his parents and grandfather. Mr. Howlett is a warm and caring man, but not without the ability to be firm and just. Mrs. Howlett is very mysterious and is rarely seen or heard from. There is also a young maid, Rose, who is hired to care for James.

James and Rose become close friends and spend most of their days together. On the estate is the groundskeeper, Logan, and his son, Dog. Logan is an angry drunk and Dog is a friendly boy, is good friends with James and Rose. However, through no fault of his own, is turned by his father into a small terror. As the children become older Dog begins to terrorize James and Rose.

Around Christmas time Logan gets drunk and bursts into the Howlett estate with a gun, looking for Mr. Howlett. This is the part of the story that the movie got correct. I will not spoil it for anyone who wants to read the graphic novel. After the events that occur, James deploying claws for the first time. Rose tries to take the Grandfather Howlett, but he casts them off, wanting nothing to do with his mutation of a grandson. Rose and James take off.

Following the events at the Howlett’s mansion James and Rose flee into Canada. This is a nice little move as it allows some interesting situations to arise, firstly is the reason why James uses the name Logan, the next is the first time he is called Wolverine, and then there are other things such as Wolverine’s facination with red-heads, the development of Dog Logan, who, for a long time was thought to eventually become Sabertooth. Paul Jenkins felt that this was fine if someone wanted to develop that part of the story, however, he never had any such intention. Interestingly Kubert would go on to draw Dog Logan when he provided the artwork for Astonishing Spider-man and Wolverine.

This book is great value for money, in regards to hardback versions of the book, you would struggle to find one for less than £15. Paperback versions of the book are obviously much cheaper and be found for around £10.

Extra features in the book are actually very good, we have an interview with Paul Jenkins surrounding his perspective of the development of the story. Then we get an article on Andy Kubert, who has always been one of my favourite artists, after his work on X-men back in the early 90’s. Next there is an article similar to the first, which focuses on the discussions that various writers and editors had about whether or not this book should even exist. Finally there is a four-page artist gallery featuring Kubert’s character designs. Interestingly, when designing the character Paul Jenkin’s initial plan was to have many of the characters look like people in Logan’s present day life. Fortunately, this didn’t happen and we have ended up with a richer variety of characters.

No new reveals at this point in the collection, but the next book to be released will be Fantastic Four: Unthinkable. This is a great book that has fond memories for me, it is written by Mark Waid, and illustrated by Mike Weiringo.

With no new reveals this week, the list is left looking a little bit like this: